[August 26, 2011] Cardinals finish seventh in tough field in Ankeny Tweet ANKENY, Aug 26, 2011 (Newton Daily News - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- If somebody didn't believe in home field advantage before, they would have quickly changed their minds if they were at Otter Creek Golf Course on Thursday. The Newton golf team finished in seventh out of nine teams with a 330, while host Ankeny shot a scorching 286 on their home course to take home the victory. "All in all, we continue to get better," Newton coach Pat Riley said. "I'm not sure what we shot last year, but it definitely wasn't as good as 330." The Cards' 330 is their best round through three meets so far this season, besting a 334 at Veenker Memorial Golf Course in Ames on Aug. 15 and 337 in Mason City on Monday. West Des Moines Valley came in second with a 290, Dowling Catholic was third with 298, Waukee took fourth with a 305, Fort Dodge was fifth at 322 and Urbandale finished with a 326 for sixth place. Freshman Devin Shores carded Newton's best round with a 77, which was still 11 strokes off Valley's medalist honors. Shores held the team's best average heading into the season and apparently isn't ready to give up that position. Newton's other scores to make the 330 were Bobby Dowling's 83 and 85s from Zach Jones and Tyler McAnally. Austin Shores and James Leonard also competed, finishing with 86 and 98, respectively. Impressively enough, this was the first time in Austin Shores' high school career that his score didn't crack the team's top four. Riley said he just had a bad day, but expects Shores to recover quickly. "He's got all the right tools and he'll be the kid that comes out next round and shoots in the 70s," Riley said. "He's got a short memory for that stuff, and that's good." McAnally hit his target round on the nose with his 85. The junior has now cracked the top four scorers in the last two meets, improving on his season-opening 92 each time. He showed poise on Thursday when he overshot the green with his second shot, but planted the ball in tap-in distance with a chip on his next shot. "He just wants to get better and he's been working really hard," Riley said. "I'm sure he'll be a big help to us over the next two years." Although three meets is just the beginning of the year and it's hard to pick out any kind of trend in the Cardinals' scores so far, Riley said the team is constantly talking about improvement. Some team members have said that mid-80 rounds just aren't cutting it anymore, which is something Riley hopes the team will act on come postseason time. "We should be shooting 225 or better, and we have the kids to do it," Riley said. "We just have to handle some of the disappointments and bounce back, but what I really care about is getting ready to go on all cylinders for districts." The Cardinals will take a few days off from competition before heading up to Lakeside Municipal Golf Course in Fort Dodge on Aug. 30. ___ (c)2011 the Newton Daily News (Newton, Iowa) Visit the Newton Daily News (Newton, Iowa) at www.newtondailynews.com Distributed by MCT Information Services [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]